Love and Music

First Concert

It had been a month since Arshi joined the Akshat Amit Band. Since the last one month, She had practiced each and every song of the set so that she would not be considered as a liability for the band in her first concert. It was her first concert with the band in Mangalore.  She was excited as well as nervous. That morning, she got up at about 4:30AM as she had to leave for Airport by 6:30AM. Rahul was supposed to pick her and Radhika up from their homes. Arshi was really happy as she would not have to book a cab early in the morning and she would also get to spend sometime with Radhika chatting in the car. She packed her bags with some make up and an extra set of clothes. The costume that she was supposed to wear was packed separately along with the costumes of the other musicians and it was with Radhika. 

She was too tired to prepare anything to eat so she made a mug of coffee which she enjoyed sipping along with her favourite Podcast. It was about 5:45 that she went to shower after which she got dressed in her favourite Superman Tee, Jeans, dabbed some lip gloss. She was brushing her hair  when she got a call from Rahul. 

A  happy voice greeted her,"Hey, Arshi, are you ready ? I have picked up Radhika and will reach your place within five minutes. I will give you a missed call to ask you to come downstairs." Arshi replied, "Good Morning Rahul. I am already ready. Will wait for your call. Bye. See ya in a couple of minutes." She texted her mother that she was going to  the airport and informed her that she will call as soon as the flight landed. She got a call from Rahul and she left home after locking the door and sliding the keys into her bag.

She was very happy as she got into the lift with her suitcase and her bag and pressed the Ground floor button. She was welcomed by Rahul and Radhika. Rahul was in a chauffeur driven car. He sat in the front seat while Radhika and Arshi sat in the back seat. As soon as Arshi got on the car, three of them started chatting. Arshi informed that she was very nervous and hoped that she will be able to give her best. Rahul and Radhika comforted her by wishing that everything would be fine. 

They reached the airport within 10 Minutes which on a usual busy day would have been a 30 minutes long drive. In the airport, Akshat sir and Amit sir were waiting in the Airport. Darshan sir, Aditya sir and others were yet to arrive. They all arrived dot on time and everyone boarded the flight . Arshi had downloaded the lyrics of all the songs they were to perform and had also downloaded the practice session on her phone so that she could listen to it on the flight. She wanted her first concert to be an amazing one. She sat with Rahul in the flight. Radhika was sitting adjacent to Rahul and was fast asleep like the others. Only Rahul and Arshi were awake. 

Rahul initiated the conversation,"Nervous?". Arshi replied," To be frank yes, but I am really excited too. I had always dreamed of this day and now when  can see it turn into Reality I feel so content and happy. It is no small achievement to perform with the best band and singers of the country. I feel privileged and I thank you for reaching out to me and giving me an opportunity to prove myself. Right now, I am feeling a number of things like Nervousness, Anxiety excitement and grateful." Rahul reassured her," Don't you worry everything would go well. We all have practiced a lot and you anyway are an amazing singer. You don't even have stage fright and don't fear large audiences. So you have less to worry about. I still remember who nervous I was on the day of my first concert and it took sometime to get accustomed  to it. You will be okay. We are all with you." The conversation between them flew smoothly. They never got bored in each others company. They discussed about music,concerts , tours and everything else. It was as if they never ran out of topics to talk about. They had indeed become great friends over the course of one month in which they had spent hours together in the studio, working till 3:00 AM at night, talking over cups of coffee, laughing at each others PJs and chatting incessantly over Instagram. 

The flight landed at 9:30 AM. They went to the resort that was booked by the organisers of the concert to freshen up after which they went to the concert location for sound check and some more practice. The concert was at 6:30 PM. By 6:00 pm, Everyone was ready with their costumes and wore the equipments that were necessary and finally got onto the stage by 6:45 PM. 

Just before going to the stage, Arshi was at the peak of her nervousness and anxiety. Everyone wished her luck but still she was nervous. Rahul immediately noticed her nervousness as everyone left the Green Room. Rahul went to Arshi and hugged her and whispered in her ears,"Everything will be okay. Best of luck. We will rock it just fine." That comforted Arshi andd she hugged Rahul back. She felt confident and went on to the stage. The concert was fabulous and many people came to meet the band and other singers after the concert. The concert got over at 9:45 PM and the audience response was amazing.

Post the concert, after everyone changed their clothes, Arshi and Rahul were chilling in a corner when a girl of about 15 came to Arshi and Rahul. She spoke excitedly," Hello Rahul sir, Hello Arshi Ma'am. I am Rashmi and a big fan of you, Rahul sir and Arshi ma'am. I have been following you since your first concert, sir. Ma'am, I am a big fan of you and I love the covers that you have put up on Youtube I am one of your first subscribers ma'am. I feel so lucky to have met both of you today. May I have an autograph please." Arshi proudly signed her first autograph and as for Rahul, it was common for him. As soon as that fan left, Arshi was on the verge of tears. She spoke softly,"I still remember the day when I went to the backstage to meet the band and how lucky I felt that day and now I am here signing my First Autograph. I thank my stars and I am so grateful to everyone to have helped me so much." Rahul understood the feelings behind those words and smiled at her.

 They finally left the concert location at 11:00 PM. They went to the resort had dinner that was awaiting them and it was delicious. They were in a hurry to board their flight as they had a concert the next night in Mumbai itself.  So they collected their bags and went to the airport to board their flight back to Mumbai.

The flight took off and now everyone was tired and fast asleep. The flight landed at 4:00 AM. They all went back home. Rahul dropped Arshi and Radhika. Radhika was asleep in the car too. Arshi and Rahul talked for sometime till they reached Arshi's house. She waved a good night to Rahul and went to her room.  While she changed and unpacked the luggage,she saw a stream of Whatsapp notification on her phone and all of them were from the band's Group. It was a stream of Photos of the concert of last night. She forwarded it to her mother. As she was going to go offline, Akshat sir had sent a message in the group which read, 'It was a great concert. Hope we rock it the same way tomorrow too. Arshi, Congratulations for your first concert you were amazing. Hope you had fun too.' Arshi replied ,'Thank you so much sir. It was a great experience for me too and I did have a lot of fun.' 

It was 5:30 AM as she was about to go to sleep, that her phone had a notification. It was a message from her mother. It read:'Proud of you, my dear. Love you. Go off to sleep. will talk to you at lunch time.' Arshi went off to sleep with a smile on her face and a satisfied heart. 

Rahul,on the other hand reached home, changed his clothes updated his Instagram Story tagging every member of the band and went off to sleep at about 6:00 AM.